Golden Key Paino School’s November 2022 Newsletter

Dear students and parents at Golden Key Piano School,

We are excited to have our annual duet recital coming up and announce that the advanced students’ masterclass is back. To learn about these and more, read on.

1. Duet Rehearsal

As we are all preparing for the duet recital, by now you should have a duet partner and a piece assigned for you by your teacher.

It is a good idea for the parents to have the duet partner’s contact info and stay in touch for practicing and later for rehearsal.

Please mark your calendar for the recital date and keep practicing for the rehearsal.

Note that we will only know the exact recital time for each group after all the rehearsals are completed.

The rehearsal details are coming up and we would encourage you to sign up.

Register here for a time that best suits you.

2. Informal Zoom Performance Day

Our informal performance day on Zoom will be on Tuesday November 8th at 3.30pm PST.

We are looking forward to our next informal performance day.

The link is below;

You can join us on Zoom using these credentials;

Meeting ID: 878 1453 2022

Password: 720817

The event is free.

Please mark your calendar and keep up with your practice.

3. Advanced Students Masterclass

We are excited to have professor William Wellborn back this year for another master class for our advanced students. Space is limited. If you are in advanced level and interested to join the class this coming April, please discuss with your teacher and get started on preparing one piece.

Here is some information:

Date: Sunday April 23rd

Fee for participants: $140

Fee for observers: $30

Duration of the class: 2-3 hours. Each participant takes a 30-min lesson.

Can I participate on Zoom? We prefer in-person classes but if you are not living in the area yes we can have you on zoom.

How To Register: Pay the amount via PayPal and respond to this email.

NOTE: We have a maximum of 5 students for this masterclass so make sure to register early to get an opportunity.

About Professor Wellborn:

William Wellborn enjoys an active career as a pianist, teacher and lecturer, and has performed and lectured widely over four continents. He received a MM (New England Conservatory) and DMA (University of Texas) in Performance, and a BM in Piano Pedagogy (University of Texas), where his teachers included Gregory Allen, Patricia Zander, and Nancy Garrett, and two leaders in the field of piano pedagogy- Amanda Vick Lethco and Martha Hilley. He has also received coaching from John Perry, Leon Fleisher, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Adam Wibrowski, Andrzej Jasinski, and Jerome Lowenthal. Guest artist appearances include the New Orleans Institute for the Performing Arts, the Paderewski Festival, the American Liszt Society, the Great Romantics Festival in Hamilton, Canada, the Chopin chez George Sand festival de piano in La Châtre, France, the Três Séculos de Piano series in Rio de Janeiro, and the Festival du Chablisien in Chablis, France. In 2004 he had the honor of presenting an all-Liszt program on Liszt’s piano at Hofgärtnerei Museum in Weimar, and in 2009 he presented a Haydn program at the composer’s birthplace in Rohrau, Austria. Orchestral appearances include the Austin Symphony, the Austin Chamber Ensemble, the Laredo Philharmonic, the San Antonio Symphony, the Redwoods Symphony, the Monterey Symphony, and the Sudeten Philharmonie in Walbrzych, Poland.

Wellborn has served as convention artist for state conventions in Missouri (2002), California (2013), Texas (2001), and Colorado (2014), and has given numerous lectures and masterclasses for music teachers organizations across the United States. From 1996-2010 Wellborn was involved with A CONCERTed Effort, a San Francisco Bay Area concert series which raised over $2,000,000 for various AIDS organizations. A scholar of historic musicians, from 1995-97 Wellborn hosted the San Francisco-based radio program “Piano Legacy”. A frequent adjudicator, he has served on the juries of the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, the San Jose International Piano Competition, as well as competitions for CAPMT, MTAC, and numerous others. Since 1999 he has directed European musical tours exploring the lives and music of great composers; this coming summer he is looking forward to leading a Brahms and Schubert tour which visits Austria, Germany, and Slovakia.

Wellborn has served as an artist-teacher for the Masterclasses of Saint Malo (1998-2003), the Franz Liszt Summer Piano Academy in Sopron (2004-2007), and the Austrian International Piano Seminar and Festival (2008-2013), and the Krakow Piano Seminar (2016-present). In the summer of 2018 he returns to teach at the Idllywild Arts Academy Summer Workshop for Adults (www.idyllwildarts.org), and to Poland for the Krakow Piano Seminar. Wellborn is on the national board of the American Liszt Society and is the founding president of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the American Liszt Society; he also serves as Vice-President for the San Francisco Council of the Chopin Foundation. Wellborn has taught at the University of Idaho, Humboldt State University, and has been a visiting lecturer at Stanford University. In 2017 he was honored to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the California Association of Professional Music Teachers (CAPMT). A faculty member of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music since 1989, Wellborn teaches piano in the Pre-College division, and Piano Pedagogy in the Collegiate division. His students frequently win top prizes in numerous state, national, and international piano competitions. Wellborn records for the Marco Polo and Cambria Master Recordings labels.

4. Calendar Reminder

Please note that the school will be closed from November 24th November 26th for Thanksgiving. For those classes fall on these dates, your lessons balance out as there were 5 weeks in September/October hence you don’t need makeup classes.

Here is the school calendar for reference in case you need it for future reference.

5. Student News

Jaslene’s Recital

We are so proud of Jaslene for organizing a recital with her friends and family at an elderly home near her. We applaud her and hope she can continue the spirit of giving and spreading her gift.